Draft rigging



I. O. WRIGHT- DRAFT RIGGING- APPLICATION FILED APR-29, 1920.

Patented Feb. 28, 1922.

- tions of the said yoke.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- IRA ORVILLE VJRIGHT, OF BALTIMQRE, lvfllliYL-ihll), AS "EQ-NOR'TO THE '1. H. SYMING- TON COMPANY, OF NEV] YORK, N. A COBPQRATIONOF DELAWARE.

DRAFT RIGG-ING.

' Application filed April 28,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRA ORVILLE' WRIGHT,

a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in- Draft Rigging; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to railway cars and more particularly to draft rigging therefor, and the primary object of my invention broadly-stated, is to provide means for connecting the coupler to its cushioning mechanism, said means being adapted to be assembled in either of two positions with the said coupler.

Another object of my invention is to provide a yoke or coupler connecting means with a plurality of pairs of elongatedslots, one pair of said slots being arranged in alinement with the slots in the car sills, and the other pair of slots being'arranged at an an le to said'firstnamed pair. I

till another object of the invention is to provide a yoke adapted to cooperate witha rigid back stop and 'to combine with said yoke a key connected follower, said follower being adapted to be assembled between the arms of'the said yoke in either of-two posi- Anotherobject'of invention is to provide a yoke with a hoodedhead, said yoke' being adapted to be assembled between the car sills with itsarms parallel to the said sills or at right anglesthereto as desired, said head having a plurality of pairs of key receiving slots'arrangcd to receivea coupler key in either position of the said yoke arms.

Another object of my invention is to provide a yoke which may be assembled in either of two positionswith reference to the car sills, said yoke having slots therein adapted to receive a vertical key: passing through the said coupler, said key serving to operatively connect the coupler and yoke.

There are other: objects of the invention as will more fully appear from the detailed description of the embodiment of the invention which has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein, v

Figure 1 is'a view showing yoke and as- 1820. Serial No. 877,78.-

sociated parts of the draft rigging in assembled position, the yoke being shown in side elevation and the transversely extending keys in section, the section being taken between the adjacent yoke arm and the adjacent sill.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the structure shown inFig. 1 except that the yoke and coupler are shown connected by a vertical rather than a transverse key.

Figure 3 is a View similar to F ig, l illustrating, however, the yoke rotated through ninety degrees, the arms of the yoke extend ing at right angles to the adjacent faces of the car sills rather than parallel thereto.

Figure d is' a view similar to Fig.2 illus-' tratmg, however, a longitudinal sectional I view of the yoke in its rotated position and first position the" openingbetween theyoke arms forms aparallelogram open at topand Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb 28, 1922 bottom, while'in the other position the openbe used with a vertical'yoke,.and it is there-' fore of greatcommercial value to provide a yoke =whichis adapted to be placed in either a horizontal or vertical 'positionwhereby one and the same yoke may be commercially. used as a repair part irrespective of the character of draft rigging employed therewith.

The longitudinal sills of the car; only one of which is shown in the drawings, are indicated by the numeral 1, and to the outer faces thereof is connected, preferably by means'of the IlVGliS 3, a conventional form of slotted cheek plate 2. Each cheek plate is provided with a pair of alined slots 4 .ing between the yoke: arms forms a-paralleloand 5 which register with correspondingly formed elongated slots in the car sills. It might be here noted that the rivets 3 which are located in rear of the rear slot 5 are preferably provided with countersunk heads so that the clear space between the sills will not be taken up by the projecting rivet heads. In rear of the cheek plates 2 and suitably spaced therefrom I have shown a conventional form of rear stop member 6 which preferably forms a tie to connect the inner faces of the center or draft sills and which is provided with a face 7 which normally contacts the rear end of the yoke S and serves as a means for transmitting buffing forces from the yoke to the car sills. The said yoke comprises a pair of longitudinally extending arms 9, 9 which are con nected at their outer ends by means of the walls 10, the said walls, in connection with the adjacent portions of the side arms of the yoke forming what may be termed a hooded forward end 11. At a suitable Cllstance from the end faces of the yoke arms 9 I provide the same with longitudinally extending slots 12, and to the rear of these slots each yoke arm is further provided with an elongated slot 13. In the connecting members 10 I likewise provide slots 14L which correspondto the slots 12 in extent and location, the openings in the respective pairs of slots 12 and is extending at right angles to each other. The slots 12 and 14 are preferably widened at their rear ends as shown at 15 and 16 for a purpose hereinafter described.

The coupler stem 17 is adapted to extend within the hooded end of the yoke and may be connected to the same either by the transversely extendingkey 18, shown in Figs. 1 and 8, or by the vertically extending key 19 illustrated in Figs. 2'and 4:. The rear end of the coupler stem is adapted'to normally' engage the forward face of the follower 20 which is maintained in position by means of the key 21 which is adapted to extend through theslots 13 in the. yoke arms when the same are in horizontal position, and through the corresponding slots in the sills and through the slots 5 in the cheek plates 2. Interposed between the follower 20 and the rear end of the yoke 8, which preferably comprises'a pair of spaced walls 22 connected by transversely and vertically extending webs 23 and 24, is the cushioning mechanism 25 diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1 by the parallelogram 26. The ends of the yoke arms 9 and the outer faces of the connecting members 10 are preferably provided with reinforcing bosses 27 which surround the outer ends of the respective coupler key receiving slots. "With the yoke arms arranged parallel with the adjacent sills as-shownin Figs. 1 and 2, the coupler stem 17 may be connected to the what I claim yoke by either of; the keys 18 or 19, and

the object and purpose of the enlargements 15 and 16 atthe inner ends of the coupler slots is to permit lateral movement of the coupler stem when the stem is connected to the yoke by means of the vertical key 19. This provision is unnecessary when a transversely extending key is used, since a lateral movement of the coupler stem would be permitted by a slight longitudinal move ment of one side of the key in one direction and a slight longitudinal movement of the portion of the key on the opposite side of the coupler in the opposite direction, the cushioning mechanism being sufficiently yielding to permit the necessary forward movement of the yoke in response to the pressure of the coupler key. It is desirable, however, to provide room for play at the rear ends of both sets of coupler key receiving slots since by so forming these slots the yoke may be connected in either a horizontal or a vertical position to the coupler stem by means of the vertical key and the coupler stem will be able to angle laterally with reference to the yoke, the forward end of the key slot serving as the pivotal point of the coupler. This wideningout of the inner ends of the coupler key slots in the yoke arms does not affect the correct operation of the device when a transversely extendingkey is used, since the side walls of the slots in the sills and the cheek plates,- respectively, serve to guide the key and, maintain the same in proper alinement with the draft rigging.

The key 19 may "bemaint'ained in operative position by means of the cotter 29,

Having now fully described my invention, I and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is i a 1. In a draft rigging, the combination with a coupler, of a yoke slidably connected thereto, said yokehaving a hooded head adapted to receive the stem of the said coupler, a key extending through a slot in the said coupler, and means on said head adapted to engage the said key in either of two positions. I

2. In a draft rigging, the combination with a coupler, of a yoke slidably connected thereto, said yoke havinga hooded head adapted to receive the slotted stem of the said coupler, a plurality, of pairs of slots provided in the walls of said head, said yoke being adapted to be assembled with said coupler in either of two positions,and a key extending through the slot iin said coupler stem and adapted to engage either of said pairs of slots in said yoke head.

3. In a draft rigging, the combination with slotted sills, slotted cheekplates, and a coupler, of a hooded yoke, a key connectmg said coupler and yoke, a follower between the arms'of the said yoke, and a sec- 0nd key operatively connecting said follower to the said sills, and means for holding said yoke from rearward movement beyond normal, said yoke being adapted to be assembled with said coupler in either of two positions, said yoke having a plurality of pairs of slots in the wallsof said hood, said coupler key being adapted to cooperate with either of said pairs of slots in either position of the said yoke.

4. A yoke for railway draft rigging comprising a rectangular box shaped outer end and a pair of spaced arms extending rearwardly therefrom, each wall of said box shaped end being provided with an elongated tapering slot, the slots in each pair of parallel walls being in alinement.

5. A yoke for railway draft rigging comprising a hooded head and a pair of rearwardly extending arms, said head having in each side wall thereof an elongated slot, said slots being in alinement, said head being further provided with an elongated slot in in the top and bottom walls thereof and additional slots being formed in the arms of the said yoke, said last named slots being arranged in line with the said slots in the side walls of the said yoke head.

In testimony whereof I affix my si nature.

IRA ORVILLE WRI HT. 

